


Tealeaves Are Boring

by SatyrSyd37



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Divination, Ficlet, Fluff, HP: Epilogue Compliant, Harry Potter Next Generation, Hogwarts Fifth Year, M/M, One Shot, POV Third Person, Tea
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-22
Updated: 2014-06-22
Packaged: 2018-02-05 02:58:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,061
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1802845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SatyrSyd37/pseuds/SatyrSyd37
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Scorpius's friendship with Albus Potter is most definitely (and unfortunately) platonic. Even after two years as partners in Divination, it's barely even a friendship! But something as simple as tea leaves could change all of that.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tealeaves Are Boring

**Author's Note:**

> My first Scorbus! Hope you all enjoy!
> 
> Feel free to hit me up on [my tumblr](http://satyrsyd37.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me, all rights to J.K.Rowling, etc., etc.

Albus Severus Potter swished the dregs of the tea around in the cup in his hands. The sun was streaming through the window of the classroom, striking his partner’s pink patterned teacup with a glare. Al sighed. It was such a lovely day, with the sun out, shining bright and happy, for the first time in months. He could feel the hint of a crisp breeze through the open window, teasing him with hopes of flying in nice weather for once. Yet here he was, suck in Divination with an old batty professor, a class full of idiots and the one and only Scorpius Malfoy, who was sitting right across from him, looking uninterestedly into Al’s blue patterned teacup.  
  
Al sighed again, earning him a glare from Scorpius. Al ignored it and gazed down into his text. He tried to give off the appearance of searching for some hint as to what Scorpius’s tealeaves may be trying to ‘tell’ him, when he was actually halfway to falling asleep.

“Why are tealeaves so boring?” he asked in a daze.

His father had been right. He had warned Al about Divination, and said that although he respected the art of prophecy (which made sense, having been in a major one himself), Divination was undoubtedly the most boring class he had had at Hogwarts. His mother had told his dad off, though, saying that the class was quite interesting and worth his time. It was between that and Arithmancy, and Albus wasn’t any good at math, so he went with his mother’s advice and signed up for Divination.  
  
At fifteen years old, Al regretted many things. Signing up for Divination his third year was at the top of that list.

Well, okay, maybe not the top. After all, it wasn’t for nothing that he stuck around with the goony teacher and star struck idiots for more than two years of class.

Al sighed yet again. Scorpius looked up and rolled his eyes at Al. “What do you see?” Scorpius asked, his deep voice bringing Al out of his daze.

Al would be lying if he said his partner wasn't a large part of his reason for sticking around. Or, really, the only reason. Two and a half years as partners with Scorpius in Divination had been more than enough time for Al to realize how gorgeous Scorpius was. He was tall and willowy, but had a strong jaw and cheekbones and his eyes were bright – and his hair! Scorpius’s hair was so blonde it was almost white, and it looked as soft as a dove’s down. 

Not only that, but he was smart – second in their class, only to Al’s cousin Rose. He was quiet and bookish (aren’t all Ravenclaws, though?) and was witty and intriguing – the perfect antithesis of Al.

Al knew that Rose was messing with him when she said Scorpius had a crush on him, too. But Al knew better – someone like Scorpius wouldn’t be interested in Al. Al was too boisterous and Gryffindor for someone of Scorpius’s refined Ravenclaw taste. And even then, the antagonism between their fathers probably warned Scorpius off a long time ago. They were friends, of course. Well, of a sort at least. As in Al spoke to Scorpius outside of class in a friendly manner once or twice. Not that he was counting.

Scorpius cleared his throat, making Al jump. He realized he had been staring at Scorpius. _Bollocks_. “Um…” he looked into Scorpius’s cup. It was honestly just a mesh of black matter, but if he turned it a little bit, “…it looks a bit like a bird. An owl, maybe? I dunno.”

Scorpius, although irritated by Trelawney, was actually quite interested in the Art of Prophecy. Al wasn’t all that surprised. Rose had said Scorpius’s mother came from a family of Seers. Merlin knows why he was still partners with Al – Al was pants at Divination.

Scorpius cleared his throat again, and Al realized he was waiting to hear the explanation from the text. Al groaned and looked back at his book, searching for ‘owl’. “Here it is. Says, er... ‘About to make a change…a bold new step shall be made...provoking a new direction of thought…causing disparaging events.’”  
  
Scorpius rolled his eyes. “Of course. Something else to look forward to. I’ll just add ‘existential crisis’ to ‘maimed right hand’ and ‘death of innocence.”  
  
Al smirked. All they had been able to come up with for months was violent and melancholy gibberish, formed with broken phrases from _Unfogging the Future_. Al honestly couldn’t believe Trelawney still used the same book to teach after twenty-some years – when the book list had come back in third year, Harry had given Al his own old copy with a look of disbelief on his face.  
  
Al looked around for the devil herself, who was on the opposite end of the room harassing some poor girl about the dangers of red haired men. He sighed, and looked back into the cup, tilting it at different angles. He rotated it further and a little heart was formed. It wasn't perfect; it was a little squat and the end was a little angled, but it was distinctly heart shaped. “Here…it sort of looks like…a heart.”  
  
Scorpius’s eyebrows shot up. “Let me see,” he said, leaning eagerly over their little round table. Al obliged, holding out the cup for Scorpius to take. As he inspected it, Scorpius's brows furrowed and his eyes got squinty like anytime he got all intrigued by something; it was really quite adorable.

Al supposed he should look up ‘heart’ in their book. He had barely begun to flip the pages when Scorpius commented, “Honestly, Albus, do you really need to look that up?” He held his own cup level with Al’s, and stared pointedly into each.  
  
“What do you mean?” Al asked.  
  
“What do you think it means?” Scorpius put flatly, eyes still stuck on the two cups. “A heart? Really?”  
  
“Oh. A heart.” Hearts…what do hearts mean…oh! Duh. “Right. Love?” he answered dumbly. He always looked like an idiot next to Scorpius.  
  
Scorpius looked up with a smirk. “Precisely.” Al grinned stupidly back. Scorpius went on, “But it _would_ help to get clarification from the book, since yours looks the same as mine – ”  
  
“What was that you said, my dear boy?” Trelawney cried, seeming to appear out of nowhere. Al sighed. _Here we go again,_ he thought. She practically yanked the two cups from Scorpius’s grip, with surprising strength in spite of her feeble bones.  
  
“Oh my, oh my oh my oh my,” she exclaimed, her eyes widening behind her giant glasses and her head shaking back and forth frantically. Her bony hands started to shake as she put the cups down, and she clapped a hand over her mouth. She looked at Scorpius with pity in her eyes, then at Al, with the same glint of sympathy, and Al took the chance to snatch the two cups. Sure enough, once he turned them the right way, two identical hearts stood out in the black mesh, with crooked ends and everything. Surprise overcame him - what the hell was that suppose to mean?  
  
“I am so sorry my dears…so, so sorry. And your fathers…oh! How terrible for them! They will be so…disappointed.” she exclaimed, gesticulating loudly, knocking down a weird portrait hanging from the window. Al launched forward to catch it before it could break, and set it on the table.  
  
“Um, Professor?” Scorpius asked, careful to avoid Trelawney’s flailing limbs. “I thought love was a good thing? Not something to be, you know, upset about?”

The weird hag on the portrait was eyeing him creepily, so Al turned it face side down, eliciting a shriek from the frame.

“Ah yes, Mr. Malfoy, love – love is a wonderful thing. But this! When two people have hearts in their cups, and read the other’s…! I am so sorry boys, but you, you are…oh, I can not bear to say it!”  
  
The bells suddenly started. The lesson was over. Most of the students had cleaned up already, and only a few stragglers were still drying their cups out by the sink. No one seemed to have noticed Trelawney’s performance. The professor put a quivering hand on her lip and told them to clean up: they were free to go. “But not free of your fate, I am afraid.” And with the sweep of her shimmering shawl, she hobbled out of the classroom, along with the last of the students.  
  
“Well, that was dramatic,” Scorpius said, taking the cups from Al to the sink.

What the hell had just happened? What on earth could be so bad about them both having love in their futures? Scorpius seemed very…unsettled about it, despite his calm façade.

“Whoa, wait – what was she talking about?” Al asked.  
  
“Our bloody fortunes, of course,” Scorpius smirked, reaching for the soap in the sink.  
  
Al rolled his eyes. Scorpius did have his moments. But somehow that just made him more attractive. “I mean, what did she mean about our dads being disappointed? About reading the other’s cup?”  
  
Scorpius gave a little laugh, scrubbing out the cups. “I think Trelawney’s a bit of a homophobe, don’t you agree?”  
  
“A homophobe?” Oh. _Oh_. Al searched his text for 'heart'. At the end of the description, which predicted – you guessed it – love, there was a tiny asterisk. Al moved his finger to the bottom of the page, and he read aloud, “In some extremely rare cases, two persons may find their cups have identical hearts, which indicates the two will fall in love.”  
  
Al sat down slowly. “Oh,” was all he could say.  
  
Scorpius gave a nervous laugh, drying the last cup and placing it carefully on the tilted shelf. Scorpius turned around, and his face was very pink.  
  
He liked Scorpius. And if the cups were right, Scorpius liked him _back_. And if they weren't, the pink tinge on Scorpius' face definitely gave it away. A rush of brazen Gryffindor confidence rushed to his head, and a wide, flirty grin broke out on his face. _Scorpius liked him._

He stood up and sauntered over to Scorpius. “Do you believe in the art of Divination, Scorp?”  
  
Scorpius preened at the nickname before joking, "No. I have had no reason to believe." His face turned redder, and it only fueled Al's conviction.  
  
"Liar," Al poked his arm, placing his other one on the edge of the counter, trapping Scorpius between the sink and himself. His pulse raced. This was the closest he'd ever been to Scorpius.  
  
Scorpius squirmed a bit and Al's smirk widened. "I know your mother's from a family of Seers. You probably have the gift, too."  
  
Al moved his face closer to Scorpius's. Now they were almost nose-to-nose. Scorpius’s eyes were wide and there was a little nervous grin on his face. Al willed himself not to swoon from Scorpius's musky scent.  
  
Scorpius cleared his throat, and asked Al, "Do you believe?" A chunk of hair fell onto Scorpius's forehead and Al couldn't help but reach up and tuck it back behind Scorpius's ear. Scorpius shivered, and Al grinned.  
  
"Only when it suits my wishes," he answered.  
  
Al couldn’t contain himself any longer. He leaned in and kissed the blonde. Scorpius was pushed into the edge of the sink as Al pressed up against him. His lips were pressed against Scorpius's, and Scorpius was leaning in closer, and Al heard himself moan as he opened his mouth. Scorpius's tongue explored his teeth, his lips, his tongue, and it took all of Al's will power to stay on his feet. Scorp was really, unfairly good at this. He dragged his tongue against Al's lips, leaning closer, and then Al had to pull back for air, leaving them both panting.  
  
They both looked at each other. Scorpius's face was flushed and his lips were red and wet and his clothes were a little disheveled, but his bright eyes were shining. Al imagined he looked much the same. He couldn't help but laugh. He had just kissed Scorpius Malfoy.  
  
Scorpius laughed too, and through his breathlessness, managed to say, "You know, maybe tealeaves aren't that boring."  
  
Al nodded and laughed in agreement before pulling Scorpius in for another kiss.


End file.
